Observation/Reflection #2: Eyes in the Back of Your Head: Observing Student Actions
From a seat in the rear of the room, observe your students and take notes on what they are doing while the teacher is presenting in the front of the room, while they are supposed to be doing seatwork, and/or when they are working in the lab. Look closely at each student for a range of behaviors, and resist the temptation on only see what you expect. Note especially what is happening furthest from the teacher. What strategies are used by your teacher to encourage students to attend and engage?
How important is student engagement to you view of how you will teach? What strategies will you employ to encourage student engagement?
Observation
Today in Mrs. Brocato's science class there was a team activity outside. Her class along with another team teacher and his class gathered outside to do a collaborative team activity that incorporated aspects of all of the core subjects on the team. There was a grid set up spray painted on the grass that was labeled with longitude and latitude lines, an equator, and a prime meridian. There were points on the grid with different activities on them and the students, in pairs, had to find the coordinate at each point and answer the question at each station. They had 40 activities, 8 questions from each subject and they had two hours to complete them all. From my view on this activity, with the students primarily working in pairs, trying to get all of the points in before they ran out of time, the students were extremely focused and excited about their work. I observed discussion about math problems as well as arguments between students about the five kingdoms of organization. Mrs. Brocato and Mr. Wallace walked around and answered questions, but the students worked just as effectively right in front of their teachers looking on as they did when their teachers were not looking. The main strategy that was used by the teachers to keep encourage engagement was the fact that they were getting graded on this activity in all of their core classes. This seemed to really matter to the students and encouraged them to focus on their task.
The next two periods of the day were shorter because of the team activity during the first two hours. The second period watched a video on dichotomous keys and third period was a lesson dealing with doing an artifact analysis. While Mrs. Brocato was explaining what an artifact analysis was and why they would need it, the students were listening intently. They knew that they were going to have to do one for homework, which is a good incentive to listen and pay attention so that it will make their homework easier. They asked some questions about the homework and then they did an in class activity analyzing written documents, pictures, and old cartoons. Once they split into groups, there was some side chatter, but Mrs. Brocato walked around the room constantly so this stopped any activity that was not focused.
Reflection
After observing the team activity and two class periods today, I was able to observe how the students act in a very detailed manor and it really opened my eyes to how they respond to their teacher. During the team activity, most were having fun doing the activity questions and they were telling me how much they loved finding longitude and latitude coordinates, while others complained to me that they were doing all of the work and their group member was not helping. I think this might have to do with the fact that they picked their own teams, and for middle schoolers, this really works for some kids and really doesn't work for others. As a teacher, I will encourage group work and team activities but I will try to come up with an activity that holds each individual accountable even if they are working in groups of two. I think that they team activity was a great idea, incorporating all subjects into one activity. The class activities related to their field trip that they will be taking to Salem, MA, where they will do artifact analysis' on different artifacts in the House of Seven Gables. Knowing that the class activity relates to their field trip as well as their homework. Most of the students really felt a need to listen to the lesson, knowing that they would be lost for the next couple of weeks if they did not understand. Overall, I was able to observe a lot of teaching strategies of keeping the students on task.
Observation/Reflection #2: Eyes in the Back of Your Head: Observing Student Actions
From a seat in the rear of the room, observe your students and take notes on what they are doing while the teacher is presenting in the front of the room, while they are supposed to be doing seatwork, and/or when they are working in the lab. Look closely at each student for a range of behaviors, and resist the temptation on only see what you expect. Note especially what is happening furthest from the teacher. What strategies are used by your teacher to encourage students to attend and engage?How important is student engagement to you view of how you will teach? What strategies will you employ to encourage student engagement?
Observation
Today in Mrs. Brocato's science class there was a team activity outside. Her class along with another team teacher and his class gathered outside to do a collaborative team activity that incorporated aspects of all of the core subjects on the team. There was a grid set up spray painted on the grass that was labeled with longitude and latitude lines, an equator, and a prime meridian. There were points on the grid with different activities on them and the students, in pairs, had to find the coordinate at each point and answer the question at each station. They had 40 activities, 8 questions from each subject and they had two hours to complete them all. From my view on this activity, with the students primarily working in pairs, trying to get all of the points in before they ran out of time, the students were extremely focused and excited about their work. I observed discussion about math problems as well as arguments between students about the five kingdoms of organization. Mrs. Brocato and Mr. Wallace walked around and answered questions, but the students worked just as effectively right in front of their teachers looking on as they did when their teachers were not looking. The main strategy that was used by the teachers to keep encourage engagement was the fact that they were getting graded on this activity in all of their core classes. This seemed to really matter to the students and encouraged them to focus on their task.The next two periods of the day were shorter because of the team activity during the first two hours. The second period watched a video on dichotomous keys and third period was a lesson dealing with doing an artifact analysis. While Mrs. Brocato was explaining what an artifact analysis was and why they would need it, the students were listening intently. They knew that they were going to have to do one for homework, which is a good incentive to listen and pay attention so that it will make their homework easier. They asked some questions about the homework and then they did an in class activity analyzing written documents, pictures, and old cartoons. Once they split into groups, there was some side chatter, but Mrs. Brocato walked around the room constantly so this stopped any activity that was not focused.
Reflection
After observing the team activity and two class periods today, I was able to observe how the students act in a very detailed manor and it really opened my eyes to how they respond to their teacher. During the team activity, most were having fun doing the activity questions and they were telling me how much they loved finding longitude and latitude coordinates, while others complained to me that they were doing all of the work and their group member was not helping. I think this might have to do with the fact that they picked their own teams, and for middle schoolers, this really works for some kids and really doesn't work for others. As a teacher, I will encourage group work and team activities but I will try to come up with an activity that holds each individual accountable even if they are working in groups of two. I think that they team activity was a great idea, incorporating all subjects into one activity. The class activities related to their field trip that they will be taking to Salem, MA, where they will do artifact analysis' on different artifacts in the House of Seven Gables. Knowing that the class activity relates to their field trip as well as their homework. Most of the students really felt a need to listen to the lesson, knowing that they would be lost for the next couple of weeks if they did not understand. Overall, I was able to observe a lot of teaching strategies of keeping the students on task.